Passing through New Orleans on her inaugural tour as the new federal coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding, Janet Woodka offered a candid assessment Wednesday of a key goal of her weeklong fact-finding mission.

"I am largely here to dispel the rumor that I don't exist, " Woodka told convention-goers at the InterContinental New Orleans downtown, referring to the light-hearted buzz sparked by the absence of her photo on the Internet.

A former lobbyist and Capitol Hill policy chief who until now spent her life in the public sector behind the scenes, Woodka stepped into the spotlight three weeks ago to become the third chief of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding, which serves as liaison between local governments and the federal bureaucracy.

A Tulane Law School graduate and former top aide to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who most recently served as director of legislative affairs for the recovery office, Woodka is spending this week getting a handle on major outstanding issues, principal among them "resolution on the issue of better health care for the city of New Orleans, " she said.

Beginning Monday with a tour of the shuttered Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Woodka met with State Health Secretary Alan Levine; Fred Cerise, vice president for LSU's health care division; officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and representatives of the St. Thomas Community Health Center, she said.

She had not met with preservationists who back a plan to gut Charity and rebuild a new hospital within its shell. Current plans call for the VA and state to build adjacent hospitals from the ground up in lower Mid-City. A key piece of the state's financing hinges on what it receives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover damages from Hurricane Katrina. FEMA has pledged $150 million; the state claims it is due $492 million.

Woodka said ongoing haggling over the final figure "is a legal process that needs to run its course" and that her office will not interfere.

"We're not here to dictate from on high how you all rebuild your health care system, " she said. "We're here to help you and enable you to do so."

Instead, her staff will work with local leaders to corral all available federal resources to make locally crafted plans a reality, she said.

Woodka also met this week with New Orleans Recovery Director Ed Blakely and City Council President Jackie Clarkson; the Jefferson Parish and St. Bernard Parish presidents; and leaders of the Sewerage & Water Board, Louis Armstrong International Airport and local criminal justice agencies. She did not meet with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Describing herself as "fully optimistic" about the task at hand, Woodka said she sees "pragmatic" and "reasonable" changes that can be made to federal rules to expedite recovery.

On Woodka's agenda today was a visit to Hancock County, Miss., and sit-down with Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg. She planned to return Friday to meet with local corps officials in New Orleans.

. . . . . . .

Michelle Krupa can be reached at mkrupa@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3312.